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RBNJ fans are passing around a photo that shows Martinez handles the ball on the first goal and point to a foul on BWP in the midfield on the second. Plus the RBNJ disallowed goal brings up a lot of chatter.

Amusing to see them whine about how Atlanta gets all the calls, I think this is one thing where blue and red can agree.

RBNJ fans are passing around a photo that shows Martinez handles the ball on the first his and point to a foul on BWP in the midfield on the second. Plus the RBNJ disallowed goal brings up a lot of chatter.

Amusing to see them whine about how Atlanta gets all the calls, I think this is one thing where blue and red can agree.

RBNJ fans are passing around a photo that shows Martinez handles the ball on the first his and point to a foul on BWP in the midfield on the second. Plus the RBNJ disallowed goal brings up a lot of chatter.

Amusing to see them whine about how Atlanta gets all the calls, I think this is one thing where blue and red can agree.

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i mean if martinez can get away with headbutting someone then all this is not shocking.

Fox 5 covered the NJ-ATL match in their morning show. The woman who was giving the sports update said something like this over the highlight: "The NY Redbulls played Atlanta in the MLS Eastern Conference finals last night in front of 72,000 fans. Atlanta won 3 - NILL (it must have been on the teleprompter). They now play the second game on Thursday night at Redbull Arena and Redbull has to score 4 goals to advance to the MLS Cup."

I'm sitting there thinking: if Atlanta scores 1 and NJ scores 4, they don't advance. How does the average, non-soccer aficionado understand this? I think it's a great move if MLS moves to one and done matches. It's the only way this will make any sense to the majority of America.

Fox 5 covered the NJ-ATL match in their morning show. The woman who was giving the sports update said something like this over the highlight: "The NY Redbulls played Atlanta in the MLS Eastern Conference finals last night in front of 72,000 fans. Atlanta won 3 - NILL (it must have been on the teleprompter). They now play the second game on Thursday night at Redbull Arena and Redbull has to score 4 goals to advance to the MLS Cup."

I'm sitting there thinking: if Atlanta scores 1 and NJ scores 4, they don't advance. How does the average, non-soccer aficionado understand this? I think it's a great move if MLS moves to one and done matches. It's the only way this will make any sense to the majority of America.

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totally agree! a lot of my family and friends have been asking questions about how the MLS playoffs work and you can see their eyes gloss over when I utter the words "aggregate" and "legs"

Fox 5 covered the NJ-ATL match in their morning show. The woman who was giving the sports update said something like this over the highlight: "The NY Redbulls played Atlanta in the MLS Eastern Conference finals last night in front of 72,000 fans. Atlanta won 3 - NILL (it must have been on the teleprompter). They now play the second game on Thursday night at Redbull Arena and Redbull has to score 4 goals to advance to the MLS Cup."

I'm sitting there thinking: if Atlanta scores 1 and NJ scores 4, they don't advance. How does the average, non-soccer aficionado understand this? I think it's a great move if MLS moves to one and done matches. It's the only way this will make any sense to the majority of America.

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What's even more surprising is that the woman was the MSG reporter for the Red Bulls for many seasons. While she probably did not write the entire script, the MLS segment was only given 20 seconds and that's the best explanation she could give in the alloted time. 4-0 and NJ advances.

Now, I know this would be crazy, but what if they just revert to a two game series where "if we beat you and you beat us, we go into extra time"... and that would be much easier to understand. No "aggregate", just "whoever does best over two games, or extra time."

Or if we did similar to other American sports where they do 7 games per series, we could do 3 games, best of 3, must be a victor in each match. This option sucks because of the obvious scheduling conflict that is ever present with the league.

What's even more surprising is that the woman was the MSG reporter for the Red Bulls for many seasons. While she probably did not write the entire script, the MLS segment was only given 20 seconds and that's the best explanation she could give in the alloted time. 4-0 and NJ advances.

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She may have known exactly what she was talking about, but there's no quick way to explain it. "Now NJ needs to win by 3 goals at home to force overtime, unless Atlanta scores, then they need to win by 4. Oh, and if someone scores in overtime the other team can still tie it up and then you don't have to worry about winning by 4 to go to a shootout." "And don't worry, not even the Seattle players understood that rule last week." ETA "I'm sorry, two weeks ago. Because MLS takes a week long break so players can participate in International competitions, that are mostly meaningless, in the middle of their playoff runs."

Now, I know this would be crazy, but what if they just revert to a two game series where "if we beat you and you beat us, we go into extra time"... and that would be much easier to understand. No "aggregate", just "whoever does best over two games, or extra time."

Or if we did similar to other American sports where they do 7 games per series, we could do 3 games, best of 3, must be a victor in each match. This option sucks because of the obvious scheduling conflict that is ever present with the league.

Now, I know this would be crazy, but what if they just revert to a two game series where "if we beat you and you beat us, we go into extra time"... and that would be much easier to understand. No "aggregate", just "whoever does best over two games, or extra time."

Or if we did similar to other American sports where they do 7 games per series, we could do 3 games, best of 3, must be a victor in each match. This option sucks because of the obvious scheduling conflict that is ever present with the league.

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the season already is long enough, adding games and the crazy logistics will make it worse. especially since not every team owns their stadium.

i dont mind the aggregate system itself but here with the wild card game then two aggregate rounds then a one game final i see how it confuses people.

im still of the idea to cut the wild card game and just start top 4 ( number can grow as teams are added in) and do two rounds then final game ( or two legged final is fine but i know thats not exciting to some or tv stations here). either that or just do single game at highest seed all in playoffs.

the season already is long enough, adding games and the crazy logistics will make it worse. especially since not every team owns their stadium.

i dont mind the aggregate system itself but here with the wild card game then two aggregate rounds then a one game final i see how it confuses people.

im still of the idea to cut the wild card game and just start top 4 ( number can grow as teams are added in) and do two rounds then final game ( or two legged final is fine but i know thats not exciting to some or tv stations here). either that or just do single game at highest seed all in playoffs.

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Yeah, that's why I said it's a bit crazy.

I think once you understand how the playoff works, it's actually quite easy to understand- but to the average person looking on, it's a nightmare and that could be quite a turn-off. Look at other american sports, it's just simply "best of 7" or in football just a simple bracket. Once we reach 14 teams per conference (at their expansion goal of 28 teams), they're gonna probably do 8 per conference to playoffs, making it a lot easier to work with.

I think once you understand how the playoff works, it's actually quite easy to understand- but to the average person looking on, it's a nightmare and that could be quite a turn-off. Look at other american sports, it's just simply "best of 7" or in football just a simple bracket. Once we reach 14 teams per conference (at their expansion goal of 28 teams), they're gonna probably do 8 per conference to playoffs, making it a lot easier to work with.

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7 per conference. 14 of 28 teams. Which is great because then it matters to finish 1st in the conference and get a bye.

The wild card/knockout games only add a few days (or a week at the most) to the schedule

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i just want this to end by thanksgiving or so. before people "forget" about MLS playoffs when that FIFA break comes around. by getting rid of wildcard game you can speed it up. That wed/thurs can be leg 1 of conference semis then leg two that sat/ sun. then following wed/thurs can be leg 1 of conference finals, etc.

if anything after fifa break will be the MLS cup final, so final teams have almost two weeks to prepare. you can use that fifa week to promote etc and if possible do other marketing hype stuff. then final could of been yesterday for example.